//------------------------------//
// Criminal...This Is Weird 
// Story: Panda Skies The Mechanical Mechanicist... or an Engineer for short. 
// by PandaVoltz 
//------------------------------//

I am utterly screwed in every way seemingly possible, no matter what I do right now can let the end result be anything other than me being sentenced to life in prison, and not even one of the normal semi-comfy ones. No, the one I’m most likely going to be put into is a maximum security, meaning that I won’t be able to see the light of day. Not to mention that I don’t even get to have a once a month phone call. Though, apparently, Celestia had enough of me being quiet (due to my ever increasing amount of internal monologues) because I’m snapped out of my thoughts when she magically picks me up and puts me on the couch opposite of her. I’m pretty sure that she’s just about had enough of me and wants some answers, if the irritation and, resentment maybe, in her eyes are anything to go by. So I mentally prepare my answers to the almost guaranteed slew of questions I was about to be asked. 

“Now, Mr. Skies, I’m going to ask a few questions and you are going to answer them truthfully. Know that honesty will allow this to be much easier than if you try to lie your way out of this, not that you could in the first place. Do you understand?” Celestias tone was of hard set determination to get answers, so I do the only thing I really can at this point, I not in understanding. “Good, at least you can follow simple rules, unlike the multiple laws you have broken. Now, where did you acquire the materials necessary to construct this ‘engine’? And please do try not to miss, or hide, any details.” 

At least it was a straight forward question, though I wish she didn’t have that insult in there. “Well, that’s actually a great question. I don’t actually know where the materials came from, you see, after I accepted the business proposition the materials where already stashed within my house with a thank you card. I don’t know how they got it there before I got home, and honestly it kind of freaked me out.” I left out the little detail of the thank you card also being a bank note for the first half of my payment. Though Celestia seemed to pick up on this due to the fact that she has one eyebrow raised with a knowing look. “And the thank you card was the first few million of my payment.” The way I say that was so meek that she probably had trouble hearing me, even though we were only a few feet away from each other. 

She’s looking at me still with those knowing eye, though with a smile now. This is very weird and uncomfortable to me, why is she smiling? She shouldn’t be smiling! “Ah, greed is the root of all evil, though I highly doubt you are evil. Evidently, that dose give a partial answer to my next question of why go through with this project but I know that’s not all there was for your reasons. Would you kindly explain to me why, other than the monetary gains, you accepted this quote en quote business proposition?” She still has that smile, and I swear it almost looks smug at this point. That in and of itself is unsettling, at least to me and a touch embarrassing, plus I’m pretty sure my face is just a tad bit redder than usual.

“Heh, your right about that, and honestly it was more because I never really found a challenge in my work when I was employed with legal manufacturers. Anything that they had me build was just too easy in a sense, so I turned to more shady operations for the challenge. That doesn’t mean I had no morals with what I accepted, I have never and will never create a weapon.” I was serious about that last part too, making a weapon was just one of the things I could never bring myself to do. That and give up the names of my previous employers, there’s a special place in Tartarus for those willing to give up another just to save themselves. Not that I could in the first place since I always say not to give any type of name or alias when I go to a meeting, just helps in the long run so I don’t have a slip of the tongue and accidentally give a name. 

My main concern right now is the fact that Celestia is still smiling at me! Though it doesn't look smug anymore, if it was in the first place, but now it looks more…something. There is something there that I can’t place, for better or worse I have no idea. “Interesting Mr. Skies, it has been a long while since I have had to see a criminal personally, let alone a criminal like you. One that is willing to break the law for a challenge, but will not cross your own moral bounds, even if it presents a grander challenge. It has also been a long time since just hearing the reasoning behind a criminal’s motive that I already have an idea of what to do with you.” 

The way that sounds to me is that I’m even more screwed than I previously was, dose that mean I’m going to be banished to a distant star? Is that even possible? I have no idea, so I’m going to cling to the hope that this will all end without me being incinerated, stabbed, or banished. “Now I only have one more major question to ask you Mr. Skies, though how you answer will determine the amount of secondary questions that will need to be answered. Do you understand?” I’m pretty sure I know exactly what she is going to ask, and to be honest, if it’s what I’m thinking it is, this is going to be difficult to answer. So I nod. “Thank you, now where is this ‘engine’ that you have built, and can you lead my guards and I to it?” I knew it!